The Board of Directors of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) met at the Bureau May 14 and 15. SEG has approximately 33,000 members, with two-thirds of the membership being outside the U.S. This May meeting was hosted by Bob Hardage, Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau and current Past-President of SEG. The meeting was the first time an SEG Board has met in Austin. The current 14-member SEG Board plans and oversees SEG strategies to support global applied geophysics and to increase student participation in geophysics.

On April 17, CEE’sDr. Michelle Michot Foss (above, left) co-chaired the panel Role of LNG in Growing Global Gas Demand at the LNG 17 conference and exhibition in Houston. The LNG 17 event brought together more than 5,000 professionals from industry, government, research, and consulting, from more than 80 countries, for this major triennial program. The conference focused on a wide range of strategic, commercial, and regulatory issues surrounding LNG, including the regulatory environment in import/exportcountries, supply and demand management issues, and evolving major markets such as transportation.

The Houston Research Center's 10th Anniversary Celebration and CoreFest, held on May 9th, was a resounding success. Dozens of industry representatives and HRC supporters enjoyed an afternoon of viewing historic core material, touring the vast core warehouse, listening to presentations on the value to oil and gas exploration of maintaining a core repository, and learning about new technologies for core analysis. Dr. Scott Tinker also honored the many past donors to the HRC, including big contributors BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Occidental Petroleum.

The Bureau paid tribute to its own at the annual UT Staff Service Awards luncheon on May 8. More than 90 researchers, staff, students, visiting scientists, and alumni were recognized for their contributions during the past year. Program Director Ian Duncan (pictured at left with Scott Tinker) was honored for his 3-year term as BEG Senior Technical Advisor. Receiving service awards were Eddie Collins, 35 years service; Tucker Hentz, 30 years service; James Donnelly, Kitty Milliken, and Bridget Scanlon, 25 years; David Boling and Jana Robinson, 20 years; Michael DeAngelo, Ron Russell, and Lesli Wood, 15 years; and Emily Hooks and Xavier Janson, 10 years service.

Katharine Romanak, Changbing Yang, and Susan Hovorka received the Tinker Publication of the Year Award for 2013 from Bureau Director Scott Tinker for their paper "Process-Based Approach to CO2 Leakage Detection by Vadose Zone Gas Monitoring at Geologic CO2 Storage Sites," which was published in Geophysical Research Letters. The award, given to authors of the year's top peer-reviewed Bureau publication, was presented at the annual Authors Dinner on April 25. More than 40 authors of 70 peer-reviewed manuscripts were recognized at the event. Runners-up included J.-P. Nicot and Bridget Scanlon for "Water Use for Shale-Gas Production in Texas, U.S.," published in Environmental Science and Technology, and Julia Schneider Reece, Peter B. Flemings, Brandon Dugan, Hui Long, and John T. Germaine, for "Permeability-Porosity Relationships of Shallow Mudstones in the Ursa Basin, Northern Deepwater Gulf of Mexico," published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Almost 60 years separated the youngest first author's age from that of the most seasoned veteran, Jerry Lucia (pictured at left), who published two peer-reviewed manuscripts last year.

Despite challenging weather and mechanical problems with the transport aircraft, the BEG's Near Surface Observatory completed an airborne geophysical survey of the Cranfield, Mississippi, area in support of ongoing Bureau projects. The six-day survey, under the direction of Jeff Paine, acquired high-resolution electromagnetic-induction (EM) and magnetic-field data over an area of approximately 90 square kilometers. This data will be used to examine trends in soil composition and groundwater salinization, along with magnetic-field strength associated with possible secondary magnetic mineralization and the presence of well casings. After a day of equipment calibration, two flight sessions the following day covered a little more than one third of the field area. Mechanical problems with the helicopter's tail rotor delayed subsequent flights and heavy rainfall required re-flying one area to assess near-surface changes in electrical conductivity as a result of increased soil moisture. To learn more about the NSO,click here.